Malaysian election set to deliver Mahathir a two-thirds upset

Malaysian premier Najib Razak is set to deliver a huge upset to the country’s opposition coalition this coming Wednesday as he delivers the ruling Barisan Nasional a much needed two-thirds win. Perceived to be a poll that will either make or break him, Najib is geared to return as the nation’s strongest premier yet despite allegations of fraud and impropriety, allegations his accuser, Mahathir Mohamad, has thus far been unable to prove.

And still, the 93-year-old is seeking a return.

Having served as premier for 22 years, Mahathir forged an unholy alliance with his long-time nemesis, Lim Kit Siang. The matrimony was sealed on the commonality of national interest, that interest being carved around the idea that “the country is going to the dogs.” But just how Malaysia is destined to become a failed state has never truly been addressed, let alone the half-baked figures Mr Lim’s men are on their toes dishing. Expert analysis has it that Lim is wrong, that the country currently ranks as ‘bullish’ in the Southeast Asian growth chapter.

It has been a hellish five years for Najib.

The period witnessed two key permutations of control within the coalition-pact Lim entered with Anwar Ibrahim in 2008, a pact the DAP insists is the solution to half a century of race-marginalisation under UMNO. But the bulk of the electorate doesn’t seem to think so – they see the son of Razak leading an all-inclusive government, as opposed to the DAP’s Penang administration, that relegated a chunk of the middle-wage earning group to the confines of remote shantytowns and downtrodden outskirts.

And we’re talking the Malays and Indians.

The economic polarisation these guys suffered bears semblances to the days of Mahathir, where UMNO elites would be handed billion-dollar pies on silver platters as crony bootlickers gathered around to sink their teeth into the crumbs. The only difference was, the average Malay was then able to meet his day-to-day needs, even affording a three-bedroom semi-d in bustling metropolitans around the country. In Penang, they’ve resorted to calling that Malay an outcast.

In a manner of putting it, that is.

These days, even if the Malays were to survive on generous USD2,000 per annum payrolls, there isn’t a chance they’d afford two-bedroom single storey units in the DAP heartland. But in central Kuala Lumpur, that unit would open the doors for 20-year loan terms accounting even the existing debts they may have. In Penang, unless they’re willing to settle for low-cost, there’s a good chance that their loan applications would burn under the gazes of accountants even if their books had only USD20,000 car loans on them. The Malays are beginning to see red.

So are the Chinese.

The 2016 twin by-election in the Sungai Besar and Kuala Kangsar constituencies witnessed an erosion of the community’s support even the MCA could never have imagined. The well-to-do offspring of the traditional village entrepreneur coaxed his elders into voting the MCA, citing Lim’s bloated ego that needed slapping down. And that happened even before the DAP signed a devilish pact with Mahathir, a man Mr Lim once accused of squeezing the entire administrative strata into a fundamentally oppressive mould.

The Global Intelligence Team has crunched the data.

If results are anything to go by, Pakatan Harapan is set to fade into a distant memory as voters wipe clean the slate for Barisan Nasional on promises of reform they’re already witnessing. Najib has written the thesis on what is to come – it is only left to be seen if the Prime Minister keeps it to the letter as he charts the course for UMNO towards GE15, an election that may well be the deadliest the country has seen to date.